Coin banks which provide unique visual effects, and which sort coins according to their diameter, are becoming increasingly popular. Such banks are designed to encourage people to save coins, and, at the same time, to produce unique visual effects which can attract and amuse the user.
One type of coin sorting bank that also produces a visual effect is shown in U.S. Pat. No. D270,868. The patent discloses a molded plastic bank in which individual coins move toward a coin sorting area under gravitational/inertial forces. As the coins move toward the coin sorting area they engage a series of wheels and levers which help effect sorting, and which also provide a unique visual effect to attract and to amuse a user. The bank of U.S. Pat. No. D270,868 is basically designed to operate with individual coins deposited therein.
Another type of prior sorting bank is disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,341. In that bank, individual coins move, under gravitational/inertial forces, through a display area and to a sorting area. In the display area, the coins turn a wheel, and cause the wheel to rotate relative to a display wall. The rotation of the wheel relative to the display wall produces a moire effect which creates the illusion of animation of an image formed partly on the wheel and partly on the display wall. The coins then move into a sorting area containing coin bins and sorting tracks molded into the housing parts. In the sorting area the sorting tracks sort the coins into respective bins according to the diameters of the coins.